First Week Home From Hospital

Kelsey has been home for a week now. Yesterday she had an appointment with her cardiologist. They did an echo on her and everything is fine. There is no fluid around her heart and will not need to be on lasic. All looks good for now. The doctor thinks she will need to be followed up with in the next 30 days and then about every 3 to 6 months to monitor her progress.

Her scar is healing nicely. She still has a scab on her incision so we don't know how it looks yet, however all indications look good. She is now 10 lbs 6 oz and is 22 inches long. She is behind on her new born shots and won't be able to have any until after October 26th. She has a follow up appointment with Dr. Tam (the surgeon) on Wednesday October 4th.

Grandma Shirley has a Kidney infection and had to go to the clinic today. Nancy is coming down with a cold, and Megan is getting over one. Daron is strong as a mule and has no symptoms from the infectious disease lurking around the house. Being the only male in the house I must stay healthy to hunt and provide food for the family. Kelsey's other grandmother from Mexico City will be coming in on October 5th to meet her new granddaughter.

On another note: Our friends Eddie and Xuan had a baby girl on September 28th. She was 7lbs 3 oz and is doing well. Her name is Gabriella. Congratulations

Kelsey Returns Home From the Hospital

Kesley came home today. We are so excited. She is doing very well and is not on any medications. This was a wonderful blessing. She looks great and appears happy to be home. Thanks to everyone who has been following her progress the past few months, and to the many people that have kept her in their prayers. The doctors say that her heart is working normal. Many thanks to the team at Cooks Children's Hospital. We met some wonderful people. These are a few pics of the wonderful staff that helped Kelsey get through some rough times.

Tuesday Day 4

Check out the new photos. Look under links "Kelsey Surgery Pictures."

Also note the handsome man in green is the wonderful surgeon Dr. Vincent Tam. If anyone ever has to have this or any other CHD (Congenital Heart Defect) surgery, Tam is the Man. We are very pleased with everything he did and what he stands for. His is a compassionate man interested in saving lives. He is highly recommended by his PR person. (that's me)

Latest news….

Kelsey has almost all wires, tubes, and I.V.’s removed. She has no chest tube now, and they removed her central line and an I.V. She has one remaining I.V. in arm just in case needed. Currently she is on some oral Lasics to help with remaining fluid, Motrin and Tylenol. That is it as far as medicines. Oh yea… she is off her oxygen too!

We have our own room! Yea! Kelsey is moved out of the PICU to her own room. And it is a nice big room, all to our selves. She got here last night (Monday). Kelsey is looking so much better. She had a good night in her own room. Her Mommy stayed with her again (4^th night). Kelsey stayed awake most of the night. No crying or in pain, just staring at the ceiling. Nurses could not believe she stayed so awake.

Today (Tuesday) Kelsey is feeling a little sickly. She looks so good, awake, pink, and bright eyed. However, she seems to be feeling sick to her stomach, and just feeling the affects of the ICU drugs leaving her little body and just being sore. She got an Echo to check blood flow in the heart, an x-ray, a sponge bath, and is eating around 3-4 ounces, and doing better. Currently as I type this Grandma Shirley is rocking her, and Kelsey is asleep. She is worn out now, plus making up for her late nighter.

On the downside, Kelsey’s heart is having some Arrhythmia, which is her heart is not beating in tune for the upper and lower parts. Her heart did this in ICU, but medicine got it working as it should. They are hoping her heart will bounce back on its own.

Kelsey will need to be watched a few days, because of the Arrhythmia. Her x-ray’s are showing her lungs are getting clear. We have not heard how her Echo is showing her heart to be, but she still needs to heal a few days. Overall… Kelsey is looking so good and getting healthier.

Number to our room 682-885-7314

Day 2

Kelsey is much improved today. Her heart rythum is finally pacing at a normal rate, and has dropped to about 150 beats per minute. Her blood pressure is good. Today at 11:45am they removed her drainage tube. This is the one that you see coming out of the right side of her stomach area. Hopefully they will remove her respiration tube sometime later today or possibly tomorrow. The lasic is beginning to do its job. She is urinating large quantities of liquid. This will help reduce the swelling on her arms, legs, face, heart and organs.

Yesterday was a rough day on Kelsey. There were many complications. Her heart was not pacing correctly. She was in a junctional rhythm. Which means the upper pacemaker and lower pacemaker of the heart were not communication with each other.

One scary moment yesterday her blood pressure got extremely high at about 136 over 92. (Normal for her is 60 over 30) Her heart rate was up to 184 and they could not get her blood pressure or heart rate down. They tried several medications to control her blood pressure and heart rate. At one point they had her hooked up to the pacemaker to pace her heart, which didn’t help. Finally after a combination of medications they got her stable.

Her arms and les were extremely cold because of improper blood flow, due to the poor pumping of the left ventricle. Due to the surgery her right ventricle is swollen and putting to much pressure against the left ventricle causing the poor circulation.

They had to chang her central line to her vein because it was leaking. The line is used to administer her medications.

Yesterday we met an 8 year old boy named Anthony Mitchell from Abilene, TX. Anthony was born with (TOF) and had the exact same surgery as Kelsey. This was his 3^rd surgery. At birth he was completely blue and had to be care flighted to Cooks Children’s Hospital. He was 7 weeks old at the time of his 1st surgery to close his VSD. At about 1 year old he had his 2^nd surgery to remove his pulmonary valve. On Tuesday he had to have a pulmonary valve implant (the same one they just removed from Kelsey). He was on several medications all his life, for his heart. Today he is going home and will not have to take anymore medications. His heart is as normal as yours and mine.

Anthony wanted to meet Kelsey before he left to go home.

Day After Surgery

Kelsey's surgery got delayed a lot yesterday due to an emergency baby case. They did not take Kelsey till 2:45pm, and she was in surgery till almost 7:45 pm. We meet with the surgeon right after surgery heard his thoughts and feelings. He was pleased with the surgery. Kelsey is very swollen and very sedated. She slept all night on a ventilator to help her breath, and is out like a light. They will wake her up today, taking her off breathing machine, and such. Seems like every part of her body is attached to a wire or tube. Sad, and I hardly recognized her. Poor thing. But... This saved her life. If she can get through the first day, it is a good outlook. So.. we came home late last night, got a few hours sleep, I am taking Megan to school, and back to hospital we go.

The only negative thing so far is they were unable to save her heart valve. They had to cut a cross it due to it being so blocked and deformed. It depends on how hard the ventricle has to work to pump the blood through the open valve. With no valve there there is backflow. With backflow blood it will be working a little harder, and over time it will enlarge. So.. sometime in her life she will need a heart valve put in. With today's technology that means another open heart surgery to put the valve in. It could be in 3 years or 20 years. Hard to know. So.. that will be watched over the years.

Wanted to give you a quick update. She made it, our little fighter. Today will be a big day for her.

Take care, Nancy

Day Before Surgery

This is a post Nancy made on a support group. Kelsey weighs 10 lbs 3oz and is 22 inches long.

Update...

We survived Kelsey's Pre-Op day! =)

It was rough watching them trying to take blood, and them having trouble getting some. Poor baby was screaming. That got my tears going. I am worn out and we have not even got to surgery.

We will have to set the alarm tonight to feed Kelsey late since no milk after 2am, then only Pedialyte till 5 am, nothing after 5. She has to have a bath with the special liquid the hospital gave us, and nose ointment too. (So, to those future surgery parents... get caught up on sleep many days before your kids surgery). Won't be much sleep tonight. Surgery is at 8 am, so we will need to be at hospital at 7 am.

Surgeon and nurses that will work on Kelsey met with us today too. So any questions and concerns we talked about. Of course I had to tell the surgeon to go to bed early tonight! hehe.

It will be a busy week. Thank you again for your feedback, thoughts and prayers. I am watching and learning from you, but also getting comfort and support.

Take care
Nancy
Kelsey's Mom

This is the big week for Kelsey and Family

As everyone knows this is the week of Kelsey's surgery. We are thankful for everyone who has supported us through this trying time. Grandma Shirley (Nancy's mom) made it back to Dallas from Georgia. She had taken a sabbatical to visit her sisters and father. It's been nice having her here. She brought many gifts, cleaned the house and helped with dinner. Last time she was here she cut my lasagna into small, bite size pieces. I can start living like a king once again. Finally my life will be like I always dreamed it should be. We will be at the hospital Wednesday morning for pre op. My guess is that it will consist of some blood work, echo and a sonogram. I will update on Wednesday evening.

Looking More Like Daddy Everyday

Do to popular demand this picture explains how we grow up to be just like our parents.

Happy Labor Day Weekend

Nothing new to report. Kelsey's doctor appointment went well. Her oxygen level was 83%. Suregery appears to be on schedule for September 14th. She looks great and appears to be more human like. A smile here and a smile there. She follows movement with her eyes and is lifting her head rather well. Nancy has been acting more human like herself. Megan started at Crockett Junior High last week. She appears to be adapting well to her new school. Megan has another fund raiser. She has been pounding the neighborhood. Her goal is to sell 35 items this year for a PSP (playstation portable.)